Microsoft Bring Your Kid To Work Day 2016

This past week was Microsoft's Bring Your Kid To Work Day.  They boys had a blast.  They played games, did hamster ball races and even got to see a ne braille version of Minecraft.

4th of July 2016

We went to a friends house for the 4th.  We had a big BBQ and set off tons of fire works.  We all had a really great time.

Cole and Charlie

Space Needle 2016

We took our first trip to the Space Needle.  We waited in line and got our tickets.  We had some time to waste before we could go up so we walked around and had some lunch.  We got some fries and Trevor used the wrapper as a hat.

 Picture before going to the top.

 Trevor checking out the views.



The Reptile Zoo

Nana and Pepaw came to visit in mid June.  While they were here we went to the Reptile Zoo.  We saw all kinds of reptiles from snakes to turtles to alligators.  It was a small place but neat to see all the animals.

Duvall Days Parade 2016

This weekend is Duvall Days.  Cole marched in the parade with our cub scout pack.  Sadly, Trevor had to stay home sick with double ear infection and strep throat.  Due to family illnesses we only went for the parade but it was still a fun day.

 

Here is Cole with his buddies Braden and Logan

 Cub Scout packs 568 & 569 marched with Boy Scout troops 745 & 411

 Cole lucked out and got to ride on the cub mobile pushed by Assistant Cub Master Phil.  He was so excited.

 Cole and Logan on the cub mobiles.

On Memorial Day we took a day trip over to Whidbey Island and went to the Coupeville/Ebbey's Landing area.  It was the boys first time on a ferry so they were super excited.  We explored the town and walked on the beach.  It was a fun day.

Hawk Walk 2016

Cole participated in his school Hawk Walk fundraiser.  The kids walked/ran around the track for an hour and were then surprised by a visit from an ice cream truck.

Go Hawks!

Pilchuck Glass School Tour

Trevor and I toured the Pilchuck Glass School with our homeschool meetup group.  The school is located in Stanwood WA.  It is built on a tree farm so it is beautiful and peaceful.  The school is between classes right now so there were no students but there were a few artists there blowing glass.  It was neat to see the different styles of fusing glass and blowing glass.  What a fun tour.

 This totem pole represents the people that helped build the school.  Dale Chihuly is represented by the second one down that is holding the raven.  Behind the totem pole is some of the cabins that the students stay in while attending the school.

 This is Dan Friday working on a piece.  We watched him for about 30 minutes.  It was an amazing process.  This piece will be silver and blue when it cools down.  It is orange/red now because it is so hot.

 This bridge has flags to represent every country that has had an artist attend the school.



Homeschool Amber Collecting Field trip

Trevor and I went on an Amber Collecting Field trip with our homeschool meetup group.  We met a geologist there who took us up a 6 mile closed off road where we parked our cars.  From there we hiked in a mile to where an old mine used to be.  He showed us what was left of the old coal mine from 1904.  Then we hiked further to where an earthquake shifted the earth and brought the area with amber upwards.  We learned that amber comes from sap from the old sequoia trees which no longer exist.  After digging for amber for an hour we stopped for lunch.  We then went a bit further to an area that has fossils.  He showed us how to break them open.  Trevor was super excited to find one that has petrified palm tree inside.  Apparently that is pretty rare.  We learned that the area used to be a beach area and covered in palm trees.  We had a great time and excited for our next adventure.

 

Trevor in front of one of the closed off mines.

 Digging for Amber.  You can see the high tech tools we used.  Yes it is a butter knife.

 Getting mad that he isn't finding a piece of blue Amber.

 Ready to break open some rocks to find fossils.

 Excited that he found petrified palm tree.

Coal Creek Trail Hike

The weather has been beautiful so we took the boys out for a hike.  We tried a new trail called the Coal Creek Trail.  Supposedly there is an old coal mine on the trail somewhere.  While we didn't find it, we had a great time and got in lots of exercise and sunshine.

Burke Museum Field Trip 2016

This past week we took a homeschool field trip to the Burke Museum of Natural History.  I knew Cole would enjoy it too so we surprised him and pulled him out of school to go with us.  We had a great time exploring and looking at all the fossils and dinosaur bones. There was a great Northwest Native Artwork exhibit with several things for the boys to touch and explore.  We had an added bonus with Grandma visiting so she got to join in on the fun.